Power input requirements for 2215?

[nategesner]

Please help! I bought the following item to plug into my Ipaq and transmit MP3 music to my car stereo. It works great, but I have a question.

Mobile Audio Device (http://www.arkon.com/SF100.htm)

As you can see in the link, the audio device is powered by my car cigarette lighter. It then has a cord that plugs into the headphone jack of my Ipaq to transmit. But it also includes a small power cord that has a jack capable of fitting most CD/MP3 players and powering them so that you don't have to use batteries. I'm wondering if I can do the same thing with my Ipaq using the small power adaptor like an AC adaptor uses.

I looked around last night and found a Belkin car charger for the Ipaq that requires 8 - 32volts input and puts out 5 volts at 500mA. My audio device puts out 3volt, 4.5 volt, or 6 volt, all at 500 mA. Does voltage variation matter that much? I would like to plug in my Ipaq with the power set at 4.5 so I can try to play MP3s without running down the battery.

The maker of the audio device says that their equipment shouldn't be used for a PDA because of the "complex" power requirements. But I can't find anything about the Ipaq that makes it more complex than any other electronic device and the voltage requirements are so close that it doesn't seem like it could possibly damage my Ipaq, especially if I use the lower voltage.

If anyone knows whether this is safe or not, please let me know!

[shah]

Not sure why you want that...

If you have a normal stereo (With cassette input..!) then what i use is a MP3 to cassette changer..!

Its basically a cassette that you just push into your car stereo. You then connect that via a cable supplied to your IPAQ headphones socket.. VOilla... All done.. your ipaq will play MP3s and the output will be through your car stereo. It needs no batteries and also leaves your car charger to power the IPAQ via the normal ipaq car chargers..!

costs about £5-10..!

Hope that helps.

Shah

[shah]

just to note.. it can also play your CDs or anything that has an audio headphones outlet into your car stereo or any stereo cassette player for that matter..!

[nategesner]

I already know about casette adaptors, but I can assure you they don't sound as good, they wear out, and - most importantly - they require a cassette player which I don't have in my car (they are sooo 80's) ;)

Belkin also makes an FM transmitter that runs off 1 AAA battery and doesn't require any plug into the car. It's a very small, neat system, but I bought my transmitter specifically because it doesn't require batteries; I don't want to run out of power half way into a four-hour trip.

The simple answer is that I can just run my Ipaq off the internal battery. It will easily last the length of any trip I take and I have spare batteries as well. But why waste an opportunity to charge the Ipaq if I don't have to? If this charging plug works, I might as well use it.

[AggieJon]

I agree that an FM transmitter is the way to go if you don't have one of those fancy stereos that you can plug right into. Who has a casette player anymore? :)

I've been using an FM transmitter from iRock (http://www.myirock.com/players/irock400fm.asp) for the last few weeks and have liked it. There has been a power issue though. I don't understand much about this stuff, but here's what happens:
I plug the transmitter into one of the outlets into the car and use my Belkin car adapter to plug my iPAQ into another outlet. (Lots of cars have several outlets nowadays) When I try to listen to it, I get a weird buzzing kind of interference. When I unplug my iPAQ from its power, the buzzing goes away. I haven't really tried to figure this out, my commute is only like five minutes so I don't mind running my iPAQ off the batteries with the screen shut off. I would like it to work for long trips, though.

Anyway, I don't know if that's very helpful, but keep in mind that you may have a power issue if you try to power both devices separately. Also, if anyone knows how to make this work right, let me know! :wink:

[nategesner]

Aggie, thanks for the words. I would still appreciate a response from someone with the technical know-how. Is +/- .5 volt enough to do damage to my Ipaq? Anyone? Bueller...Bueller...Bueller...